


Hopelessly Devoted

by AverageAtBest



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Princess AU, Princess!Laura, Servant!Carmilla, there will probably be angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-09 17:28:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4357964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AverageAtBest/pseuds/AverageAtBest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day of her 19th birthday, Laura receives a very odd gift. Carmilla Karnstein.</p><p>Yet another Princess!Laura AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not your average birthday present

The kingdom was aglow with chatter. It was Princess Laura’s birthday and, by royal decree of the King, each family must present her with a gift. Any family who disobeyed this law would receive a severe punishment. The line from the palace was almost a mile long. Few worried that their gifts would be rejected as, unlike her father, Princess Laura was known around the realm for her kind and gentle nature; she would never reject a gift especially knowing that, if she did, the family would suffer the consequences.

In the throne room, Laura sat perched atop her father’s throne. King Hollis stood to the side, surveying the line of people in front of them. They had been like this for quite some time and the line showed no sign of stopping. Laura smiled at every man, woman and child with whom she made eye contact, giggling at the children as they fidgeted impatiently. She especially loved the younger children who had not yet learnt that she was different from everyone else, the ones who complained loudly that they wanted to go home or the ones who tried to run around the throne room, not caring where they were because they didn’t know any better. The Lawrence family’s youngest child had even ran up and hugged her legs, recognising her from her occasional trips to the woods to visit his older sister Danny. Everyone in the room had frozen in fear but Laura simply picked the young boy up and bounced him on her knee, babbling nonsense to the toddler much to the chagrin of King Hollis.

After hours and hours of smiling and graciously accepting gifts from her subjects, there was only one person left to see her. A young woman who looked a little bit worse for wear, her clothes were unkempt, her fingernails dirty and Laura could see that she was shaking slightly. 

‘Take off your hood and present your gift to the Princess’, the King barked. It irritated him that the peasant in front of them didn’t seem to know her place. Every other representative had removed their hood immediately upon arrival and here was this insolent child, no older than 18, that still wore hers.

‘Your highness, I am here to present to you your gift from the Karnstein family’ the woman said, removing her hood.

Laura gasped quietly, she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anyone as beautiful as the woman standing before her. Yes, she was filthy but her beauty was still evident. Her raven hair had a gentle curl to it and her brown eyes bore into Laura’s as if searching her soul. 

She stood nervously, waiting for some kind of acknowledgement to continue. Laura gave her a gentle nod of encouragement then the girl lowered herself to her knees.

‘Princess, my family is poor and has little to spare,’ her voice shook with apprehension as she spoke, ‘so they have sent me as your birthday gift, a-a devoted servant to do with as you see fit.’

Well, she wasn’t expecting that.

The Princess was conflicted. It was evident that the Karnstein family had had no choice but to offer their daughter to her; however Laura could tell that the woman herself was not at all happy about the arrangement. She didn’t want to strip her of her freedom by taking her in as a personal servant but it appeared that she had no choice. If she rejected the offer, each member of the Karnstein family would receive a harsh punishment for failing to present the Princess with an acceptable gift. Laura hated that law. 

‘I accept the Karnstein family’s...gift.’ 

Carmilla stayed kneeling on the cold marble of the throne room’s floor, head down and waiting for instructions from the Princess. Although she had heard nothing but good things about Princess Laura, she knew firsthand how different people could be behind closed doors and she was afraid that this would be the case in regards to her new mistress. Plus, she had never dealt well with figures of authority which was bound to get her in trouble at the palace.

Laura exchanged a glance with her father, quietly asking permission to approach her new servant. Upon receiving a nod from the King, she rose from his throne and made her way over to the girl. 

‘What is your name?’ she spoke in a manner that she hoped was comforting.

‘Carmilla.’ 

King Hollis scoffed loudly behind the pair who both raised their heads to look at him.

‘Carmilla Karnstein,’ he laughed mirthlessly, ‘the biggest troublemaker in the whole kingdom. You almost killed one of my knights when he tried to detain you last month for theft and you’ve been put in the stocks more times than I can count. I should have banished you a long time ago.’

Carmilla sighed; this is what she had been afraid of. Yes, she had caused more than her fair share of trouble over the years but she had no intention of harming the princess. She knew that, the minute King Hollis recognised her name, he wouldn’t let her anywhere near his daughter. 

However, she was surprised when the Princess stood in front of her protectively, shielding her from the King’s view.

‘That may be, father. But she has been given to me by the Karnstein family as a loyal servant and I think perhaps the discipline may be good for her. Therefore, I ask that you refrain from banishing Carmilla unless she becomes responsible for any harm done to me,’ Laura said, her voice firm as she negotiated with her father.

The King was quiet for several minutes, a look of concentration on his face as he weighed up the pros and cons of leaving his only daughter in charge of a known criminal. He knew that Laura had a big heart, much like her mother, and once she had her sights set on something, she wouldn’t give up without a fight. Maybe the Karnstein girl would surprise him and turn out to be a fine addition to the palace staff (although he doubted it). 

‘Alright, she can stay,’ he chuckled as he saw relief wash over Laura’s face. He knew how much she hated seeing anyone being punished. It was a quality that concerned him slightly as one day she would be Queen and would inevitably have to issue punishments or else the kingdom would fall into chaos. 

Laura turned to face Carmilla and, despite knowing her father would disapprove, offered her a hand up. 

‘Come along, Carmilla. Let’s get you cleaned up and find you some new clothes to wear,’ she said, smiling as she led her new servant out of the throne room and down the hall.

As Carmilla let herself be pulled around by the Princess, she thought to herself that maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at www.itdidntfeelpink.tumblr.com
> 
> Don't worry, Carmilla is still her broody, sarcastic self. Just give her a moment to adjust.


	2. Settling in

‘Oh and don’t worry about my father by the way. Sure he hasn’t been the same since the incident with my mother but he’d never do anything he thought might upset me and he’s away on official business most of the time anyway so you have nothing to worry about...’

Carmilla sighed. They had been looking for a woman named Perry, or something, for a while now and the Princess had not stopped talking since they left the throne room. It was beginning to irritate her. In any other circumstance, she would have just walked away but that was no longer a possibility. Her freedom had been taken from her. Still, she thought, at least the King had decided against banishing her.

As they passed by the servants’ quarter for the second time, Carmilla spotted an eccentric looking woman with short, ginger hair that was singed slightly at the ends, hanging around in the hall. God, she hoped that that wasn’t the cook.

‘That’s LaF,’ Laura explained, seeing the puzzled look on Carmilla’s face, ‘they’re one of my physicians but they also study alchemy which probably has something to do with what happened to their hair.’

‘Their?’ Carmilla questioned.

‘Oh right. LaF identifies as non-binary so they prefer gender neutral pronouns like they and them.’ Stopping in her tracks so that she could look the taller girl in the eye, Laura spoke; ‘LaFontaine is a respected member of the palace staff and I won’t tolerate anyone deliberately misgendering them, got it?’

Carmilla was taken aback by this for two reasons. Firstly, the young Princess had not yet spoken to her in such a serious manner and, despite her small stature, it was kind of intimidating. And secondly, this LaFontaine person was just a servant, why would Princess Laura care about what sort of pronouns they preferred?

Realising that the Princess was still waiting for an answer, she gave a quick nod of her head as affirmation.

‘Hey LaF, have you seen Perry?’ Laura called out to them.

She received only a shrug in reply.

Apparently, the noise had been loud enough to rouse other members of the palace staff as moments later, a woman appeared from around the corner. She was of average height and her red hair twisted into curls that framed her face beautifully.

_My god_ , Carmilla thought to herself, _is everyone that works here ginger?_

‘Honestly Laura,’ the woman shook her head disapprovingly as she approached, ‘must you raise your voice like that? It’s not very princess-like.’

‘Sorry,’ Laura smiled sheepishly, ‘Perry, this is Carmilla; she’s going to be my new personal servant. I was wondering if you could help her get cleaned up and provide her with some new clothes to wear?’

‘Certainly. It’s lovely to meet you Carmilla. I’m Lola Perry, chief of staff here at the palace,’ Perry’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm as she smiled and reached out to shake her hand.

Carmilla managed a smile which she was sure turned out to be more of a grimace as she shook hands with the redhead and let herself be led away into the servant’s quarter. As she was pulled away from the Princess, she felt a strange sense of loss, as though she was suddenly vulnerable without Princess Laura beside her.

Scolding herself for having such thoughts, she followed Perry into a side room containing a metal bathtub which she assumed she was going to have to get in at some point. She had spent 18 years under her mother’s roof; she was fully capable of looking after and protecting herself. Besides, eventually the Princess would get tired of her and she’d be assigned some mundane job designed specifically to keep her out of the way. It was best not to get attached.

*****

It took exactly one hour for Perry to make Carmilla ‘presentable’. She had been thoroughly washed, her hair trimmed, and she had been given a brand new uniform to wear which, thankfully, was black and allowed her the option of wearing either slacks or a skirt. Carmilla chose the slacks.

Then, it was another half an hour before she was sent back to the Princess because Perry insisted on briefing her on all the things she was now responsible for as both a royal servant and the Princess’ personal aide.

Carmilla had already decided that she didn’t like the redhead very much, finding her to be far too highly strung for her liking.

The thing she found most peculiar about the conversation was that most of the time, Perry referred to the Princess by her first name. She had also noticed it during their first encounter in the hall.

Eventually, Carmilla was allowed to walk over to the royal chambers, hoping to god that she didn’t bump into King Hollis on the way.

Laura was sat in front of a mirror, running a brush through her hair when Carmilla entered the room, cursing herself for forgetting to knock.

‘Hey,’ the Princess smiled warmly, ‘how were things with Perry? You were down there so long I thought maybe someone had kidnapped you.’

Carmilla’s face flushed with embarrassment.

‘I’m sorry for taking so long, your highness. Perry was instructing me on how best to meet your needs,’ Carmilla apologised, feeling slightly alarmed when the Princess started laughing. She really hoped that this woman wasn’t insane.

‘Relax Carmilla, I was kidding,’ Laura laughed. There was something about watching this supposedly hardened criminal, terror of the kingdom, get all awkward and flustered around her that she found both hilarious and endearing.

Realising that the servant girl was not going to relax any time soon, Laura took pity on her.

‘It’s getting late and we should get some sleep. I had one of the guards carry a bed in here for you,’ she gestured to a small cot in the corner, nothing in comparison to Laura’s huge four-poster bed but big enough for Carmilla to sleep comfortably on.

Carmilla furrowed her brow in confusion as she allowed the Princess to hand her some night clothes. Her new mistress seemed to be forgetting one small thing.

‘Um Princess? Would your father really be comfortable with you sleeping in the same room as a dangerous criminal?’ she queried hesitantly.

‘Probably not,’ Laura grinned, ‘so it’s a good job he doesn’t know about it then, isn’t it?’

Carmilla gulped, this girl was going to get her killed. Nevertheless, she quickly changed into the borrowed nightwear and slid into her new bed. Tomorrow would probably be quite the learning curve so it would be best to get some rest whilst she still could.

Carmilla was just drifting off to sleep when she heard Princess Laura quietly call her name.

‘Yes Princess?’

‘When my dad isn’t around, call me Laura.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at www.itdidntfeelpink.tumblr.com  
> Feel free to send any questions you may have :)
> 
> (If anyone was wondering, the misgendering of LaF by Carmilla when she first saw them was intentional. From now on, LaF will be referred to as a person instead of a woman and they/them pronouns will be used. Please let me know if I make any mistakes, I've never written a Non-binary/Genderqueer character before.)


End file.
